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Post by Dazza on Sept 12, 2008 17:08:36 GMT
The Group is an emotional short film that looks deeply into a self help group. The film explores each of the seven people who attend the group and looks into the reasons why each person attends, the things that have affected each person so deeply in their individual lives and how each person views themselves. a film by Darren Barber/Paul Bayley/Joe Ransom Music by BenMark www.myspace.com/benmarkmusic Thoughts and comments please..... ;D Quality may be reduced as I had to scale it down. www.yousendit.com/download/bVlBek9xbEpOQnhMWEE9PQ |
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Post by shindig on Sept 13, 2008 20:26:29 GMT
Right now might be the best time to reveal I fancied doing something similar for an OCD group. I decided against it as it'd just be like an episode of Monk... only offensive.
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Post by salvador on Sept 14, 2008 2:08:43 GMT
Hey man,
You really are getting those creative juices flowing!!!
I thought the way this was shot was great, reminded me of Lars Von Trier and The Idiots. Some of the characters were really good. Were they meant to be funny? A couple made me chuckle...
I'm not sure what the tone was though, like is say, is it comedy or emotional drama, a mixture? Whats the aim with the short? I ask because I don't feel that I necessarily made the emotional connection that you have written about.
Like I say Dazz, you are upping your game here, its great to see you producing new stuff that is showing maturity and a real sense of style!
Nice one
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Post by Gareth on Sept 15, 2008 14:00:49 GMT
some good performances
yeah I found some of it funny aswell the bloke who calls himself worthless has potential to be absolutely hilarious
didnt know whether it was more of a workshop exercise than a short in itself, one major thing I'd question is whether there'd be a all these people with different problems in one group???
the one thing I'd say is I didnt think any of the shots were framed particularly well, when their telling such emotionally intense stories I think their eye line should be closer to the camera
good effort though
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Post by Dazza on Sept 15, 2008 18:43:00 GMT
Hey guys, thanks for commenting. Yea i love that dude your speaking about he made awesome facial expressions. Time to fess up about this short. It was made during the shooting of soldier boy. These were all extras in the self help group scene and in the film they dont speak. Aftwer wrapping up that scene I wanted to try this out so told them all why they were in the group and to improvise. The whole things is improvised but they were so good I thought I'd make a 5 minute short out of the footage  |
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Post by Gareth on Sept 15, 2008 19:30:55 GMT
knew it must of been something live that, or an audition, hope you'll use those actors again in something, I'm dying to use that bloke for a film hes got such potential to be hillarious
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Ria
Full Member
Posts: 55
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Post by Ria on Sept 15, 2008 21:42:13 GMT
Hiya,
Meant to watch this and post yesterday, looks like I got beaten to it. I had this feeling when I watched it that it was building to some kind of punchline/payoff, and was so glad it didn't. Nicely restrained I thought. A great little five minutes conjured out of nothing. Nice one.
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Post by shindig on Sept 16, 2008 11:17:59 GMT
It was a tad grim but I honestly didn't expect it to go any other way. I mean, nobody turns up to these things and says, "There's nowt wrong with me." so it delivers what it promises.
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Post by Dave on Sept 16, 2008 19:33:06 GMT
Ahh... I thought it was possibly audition footage or similar.
I liked most of the performances and the fact that there wasn't a specific ending.
I thought the camera was a bit too unstable, to the point where the amount of movement drew attention to camera more than the subject.
I didn't think it was amusing at all like some of you lot seemed to, although I think it could have done without the constant background music. For me, the music made it feel a bit like a Jam sketch, which didn't work in its favour in trying to keep the feel serious. I was expecting something quirky or strange to happen because of it! haha
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Post by Bill Edwards on Sept 17, 2008 18:12:30 GMT
Ha!  Not sure what you were trying to achieve with this but it fooled me into thinking you had somehow got permission to film a real therapy group! I was watching it thinking how invasive and discomforting it all was and how did you get their permission to make the film public! Interestingly the one guy that nearly scuppered this illusion was the 'worthless' chap. I just thought, "Woah there. This is painful! This can't be real! Why is he allowing himself to be filmed!" What made it even more uncomfortable for me was the use of the music tinkling away underneath. I was thinking how inappropriate it was. Now I know they were actors and this film was an, excersice(?), I still think it would've been better without the music it didn't add anything for me. I don't think it gelled with the visuals. Now the scales have fallen from my eyes I think you've got an amazing bunch of actors there and if they performed like that under your direction then you've got something. All the best to you. ;D |
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Post by Dazza on Sept 17, 2008 19:39:00 GMT
Thanks for all the comments everyone ;D
They were a great group of people to work with and this was the only time I met all bar three of them. They came to do a scene as extras in 'Soldier Boy' and were really good at just being moved by what happens in the scene. After we finished the scene we thought as they had come to be here we may as well give them all a bash in front of the camera telling why they came to be in the self help group and then once I gave them characters they improvised the dialogue.
I have debated taking the music out and trying to palm it off to documentary festivals as a real doco, not sure what would happen tho if i tried that???
But as you say they were great and wasted as extras in the film but thats all I could offer them at the time.....................................however i already have ideas to use most of them again in several other films and this time in proper roles so you will see them pop up in one or two of my films other than 'Soldier Boy' soon ;D
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Post by Gareth on Sept 17, 2008 20:44:27 GMT
It was a tad grim but I honestly didn't expect it to go any other way. I mean, nobody turns up to these things and says, "There's nowt wrong with me." so it delivers what it promises. would have been an amazing ending that though |
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Post by RydCook on Sept 20, 2008 20:09:03 GMT
Hey dude, just downloading the file. Will get round to watching soon. Just getting round getting to see all the films posted up here lately!
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Post by RydCook on Sept 22, 2008 14:34:37 GMT
Hey, just watched it.
Once again, all my thoughts on it have been pretty much said elsewhere. In short:
-Great performances
-Camera should have been closer (kept hand held though)
-Nice simple idea that worked well
-Music didn't work, I think silence would have a more profound effect (glad your ditching the music)
Also... Can't see how anyone found it funny. I felt sorry for them all! Apart from the guy who was addicted to sex... but that wasn't funny either. Didn't like that bit... it seemed like a cheap try and get a laugh bit. The guy who said he thought he was worthless... I think I felt sorry for him the most! But I reckon he could be funny.. but not in this context.
Great film Dazzab, look forward to Soldier Boy.
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Post by Dazza on Sept 23, 2008 10:14:05 GMT
Thanks Ryd. I myself didnt find it funny and really felt sorry for that guy as well.
Soldier Boy Should be finished hopefully within the next two weeks. First cut has gone to the musicians to score and the editor is about to finalise the cut so the sound dialogue is tidied up and the colour is graded ;D
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